Trains, Planes and Automobiles
by Bridgid
Trains, Planes and Automobiles
by Bridgid
Bridgid hated airports, especially the little backwater town type that serviced puddle jumpers between the major hubs. They always seemed to drop you off in one terminal and shuttle you off to another leaving five minutes to make it to your connecting flight. After spending a week in LA for a conference, she was dog tired, jet lagged and her head was spinning with all of the information she has to bring back to her fellow officers at the renowned Philadelphia police department.
She was in Ohio and over halfway home at this point. Finding a seat at the check in waiting area, she plopped down to take in the scenery.
Maybe Dorothy had it all wrong. In the Wizard of Oz she came to the realization that to find her heart, all she had to do was look in her own back yard but Bridgid Morgan wasn't convinced of that fact anymore. As a matter of fact shed been searching there for the better part of her adult life and look where it got her. She was stuck under the glass ceiling at the Philadelphia police department, screaming and kicking to get out, kind of like Farmer Ted when he was trapped in the coffee table in Sixteen Candles.
Okay, maybe she was preoccupied with films and books and the likes but what else was there for her? A short affair with a married lieutenant that left her feeling kind of dirty was followed by a series of dates that some of her well meaning friends had arranged but none of them ever panned out. One had a bit of potential but the firefighter from Station 4 had a big fear of commitment. Then again, maybe it was Bridgid who put the flames out before they had a chance to grow any bigger than the struck head of a match. He wasn't the man of her dreams.
Speaking of the Wizard of Oz, the woman at the ticket counter at Northern Kentucky Airport did resemble Glinda the Good Witch. Maybe if Bridgid was real nice to her, shed lend her a broom or something to get home with.
Massive storms in the Mid Atlantic had delayed every flight east of the old Mississippi and making it home to Philly within the next twenty four hours wasn't looking so good.
She could pass the time. The airport was crowded with stranded travelers and people watching had its merits.
*…I think the man in the gabardine suit is a spy….*
She giggled to herself as she hummed the tune while sneaking glances at a man who reminded her of Pierce Brosnan in The Matador. His cheek twitched and he half smiled when he caught her gaze. Bridgid looked away, burying her head in her book to hide the crimson tide that crept up her neck.
What am I, fucking crazy? She thought as she looked at but didn't read the words in her novel. Her answer was always present. Crazy, no but she did suffer from an overactive imagination.
She kept watching as Glinda cheerfully calmed irate passengers who took turns marching to her desk in hopes of some resolution to their travel woes. A clicking sound was followed by a chorus of moans and groans as the schedule board flipped showing the word cancelled to replace the word delayed for several flights. The one to Philly was still up there and still just delayed.
Her eyes were drawn to a spot where some baggage piled up. Unclaimed she figured but one piece in particular held her interest. It was one of those plastic travel crates and every so often she could see an odd flat face pressed against the mesh bars. Was it a dog, cat, miniature horse? No, no it was a dog for sure, one of those flat faced English Bulldogs but by the sounds coming from the crate she figured it was just a pup. Poor thing, how could someone have forgotten their pet?
Cue imagination aka police mode. Maybe the pooch belonged to someone who got busted for smuggling drugs or maybe its owner was run down by a bus in the upper parking lot. Whatever happened, no one was there to pick the dog up. He fell into the category of unclaimed luggage. Perhaps he needed a home. Would it be stealing if she filled the bill?
Bridgid's reverie was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a voice that went though her just like her great aunt Bronwyn's used to.
"Is there anyone back there in Philadelphia waiting for you, dearie?"
"I beg your pardon; I mean how did you know where…?"
"Never you mind." The older woman replied. "I just know. Now tell me the truth. Do you really have anything to go back to Philadelphia for?"
Bridgid raised a brow. She looked away from the woman as she concocted her reply. "My job, I love my job you know." Turning the tables on the old gal, she fixed her eyes on her and tried to scowl but there was something so innocent about the woman's appearance that she showed her a little smile instead. "Do I know you?"
"Our paths have crossed before."
"What is your name, anyway?" Bridgid asked hoping she could put a finger on where they'd met.
"I have a few different names, darling, but you can call me F. G. she grinned. F. G Mother to be precise."
"What a crock of …"
"Don't say it! Don't you dare swear in front of me, Bridgid!" Bridgid was completely perplexed now. First off she had no idea who this old woman was and second off she had no clue how F.G. knew her name. "Let's cut to the chase, Ms. Mother. You're telling me that you don't think I should go back to Philly, right? Where the he…"
"Don't swear!"
"…heck else I should go?" Bridgid finished her sentence with a cocky chin lift.
F.G smiled and waggled her finger at Bridgid. She dove into the faded pink and gray carpet bag she carried and dug out an envelope, handing it over to the confused soon to be ex-Philadelphian. "Open it."
With a modicum of trepidation, Bridgid opened the envelope to reveal two sets of tickets. One for a private flight to a destination that was left blank, the other was a boarding pass for a train called the Phoebe Snow II. The destination of that conveyance was also blank.
"So, you want me to take a plane then a train to nowhere?"
"Oh they go somewhere, but you won't know the name until you arrive. It's your destiny, Bridgid. You were always meant to end up at the end of the line."
Slipping the tickets back into the envelope, Bridgid huffed and shook her head. "For fucks sake. This has to be some kind of dream. Am I asleep or worse, did my commuter here crash in the bad ass weather? I'm dead right? All I have to do is say Beetlejuice three times to get that freaky man to get me out of here, right?"
F.G. crossed her arms over her chest, turned her nose up in the air and turned her head to ignore Bridgid.
"What? What did I do?"
No response.
"Come on, tell me. What did I do?"
"You swore again." F.G scolded …"and you said his name. Don't ever say his name again!"
"Whose, Beetlejuice?"
"Damn you, child! Now you've gone and said it twice. Don't say it again or there will be hell to pay."
"F.G. You just swore." Bridgid barked.
"So I did. Were almost even."
Right then, F.G. tapped the side of her light blue diamond studded cat eye glasses and within three seconds Bridgid's cell phone alerted her of an incoming text message. She shoved her hand into her handbag and pulled it out to read.
'Hey, B. Get your ass on the plane. Someone is waiting for you. Chloe.'
"Chloe? Who the hel..heck is Chloe?"
"Chloe Navratil." F.G replied. "She's the girl from the natural food store you used to go to."
"But how..?"
"Never mind, dear. Just get on the plane, its boarding right over there." She pointed to an open door just to the right of the boarding ramp for her flight to Philly. There was a single flight attendant waving her toward the portal and oddly enough she was dressed in one of those old fashioned tight fitting uniforms with the gold wings on the lapel of her jacket.
"Second door to the right and straight on till morning, huh?"F.G. giggled and added "Don't forget Barney." "Barney?" Bridgid queried as she seemed to resign herself to getting on the plane. "Who is Barney?"
F. G hand turned to the seat beside her and gathered up a bundle. She handed it to Bridgid and shoed her along. "Hurry up. He wont be missed. No worries." "He? This is getting curiouser and curiouser." Peeking into the bundle Bridgid gasped. "You stole him!" "You were going to do it anyway. Don't worry about it. He was meant for you."
There was a moment of hesitation before Bridgid just let her sense of adventure get the best of her. Slinging her carry on up onto her shoulder, she cradled the pup into her arms and headed for the mysterious door. A few steps away she stopped and turned but F.G. was gone.
"Damn! I didn't get a chance to thank her or to ask her about my luggage."The flight attendant grabbed her arm to hurry her along. "No worries. She knows, and your luggage is already on board. Come along now."
The moment Bridgid went through the door she felt an overwhelming wrap of peace. Everything about this was right, no matter how strange it all seemed and it was truly strange, all of this.
Once she was seated she set Barney down next to her. The flight attendant was going through that usual thing about the seat being a floatation device and an oxygen mask would fall from above if the cabin pressure suddenly dropped etc but Bridgid barely paid attention. Except for the cuddly little bulldog she was now pretty much alone in the world. What else was new?
She wondered if Chloe would meet her at the train station. It wasn't as if they were best friends or anything but she did take a liking to the strange girl who ran the holistic shop on South Street. She was sad when Chloe seemed to have just vanished a short time ago but there was still the niggle. What did Chloe know that she didn't?
The flight was short or so it seemed. Bridgid fell asleep with the pup on her lap and lost all concept of time but it only felt like a half hour of so to her. Once the plane landed the flight attendant ushered her off quickly, instructing her to hurry before she missed the train.
"Where's the station?" Bridgid asked as she stepped onto the tarmac
"You'll see."
"I cant see a thing." There seemed to be a blanket of fog over the airfield that would defy the craft even landing there but she could here it coming. She could feel the rumble of a locomotive and she could hear the whistle blowing. It was getting closer and closer until Bridgid felt afraid that she may be standing in its path. Her moment of fright ebbed when the engine sped by, slowing gradually until Bridgid stood directly in front of a Pullman car. She could hear the door open and a man stepped down to place a wooden step for her to board. He looked at his watch then he looked at Bridgid.
"Hurry up or you'll miss your ride. We don't have all day. All aboard!"
Bridgid looked at the man thinking he seemed so familiar.
"Don't just stand there, girly. Get on the train or well leave without you. You'll break his heart."
"Who's heart and if you don't look like George Carlin then I'm not Bridgid Morgan."
"His heart, and even though he doesn't know it yet, you're going to be the best thing for him since sliced bread." The conductor ran a hand over his chin impatiently.
"Oh I get it, Chloe is trying to fix me up with someone in some kind of elaborate way. I knew I shouldn't have told her about the firefighter. I knew I shouldn't have discussed my personal business with her. How the hell do I get back to the airport?"
"You can't get there from here, sweetheart now get on the train would you?"
"No!" and once again her cell phone went off , alerting her to a text message. Shuffling the dog into the crook of her left arm she flipped her phone open.
'Get your bloody arse on the train, Bridgid…..Beej.'
"Beej? Does Beej know Chloe? I haven't seen Beej in a dogs age."
"And you wont see her if you don't do what she says." Conductor Carlin seemed to be losing his temper now.
"Alright, I'll bite again." Bridgid did what he said. "I'll go along with this little game, but someone better start explaining things to me soon."
Carlin waited until she got up the steps before he placed them into the Pullman. He jumped up behind her and signaled for the engineer to depart. Thank goodness he didn't have to deal with her for long. He sure earned his little place in Heaven for it.
Once again she fell asleep but she had no idea how long her slumber lasted this time. Barney woke her with a few well placed licks to her chin as he wobbled on her lap against the jiggle of the slowing locomotive.
"Well, sleeping beauty, you decided to come back to the land of the living, sort of." The conductor teased from where he stood in the aisle.
"You are George Carlin and you…you…passed …" Yep she was dreaming, that's all there was to it. "I sure hope there's a nice dinner somewhere in this dream. My stomach feels like my throat's been cut."
"I'm sure Tina will have a hell of a spread for you, Bridgid. She loves to cook."
"Tina? Now there was another blast from the past."
"You remember Tina don't you?"
"I remember a friend I had named Tina." She replied. "Don't know if we're talking 'bout the same one."
"Rest assured we are." He replied. "Ah, your ride is here." He seemed to look past her and out the window of the train but Bridgid couldn't see a thing. That damn fog seemed to have followed them.
"I don't see anyone." She wiped the window to no avail. Turning back toward George she started at the fact that he was gone just as quickly as he appeared.
"Great." She growled. "I'm dead. I know it. You poor dog, you must be dead too. I just wish I knew how it happened." Gathering up her bag, she carried the pup to the now open door and stepped down off the train. Just as she did the fog cleared as if some mystical breeze had come along to wipe it all away.
"Someone is supposed to pick us up, Barney but I think were stranded here in some kind of black hole. Maybe that's it; maybe we were swallowed up in a black hole. Fucks sake."
"A lady shouldn't swear like that."
The sound of his voice was like chocolate and velvet all wrapped together with a dash of Jack Daniels swirled in. She blinked, then blinked again and there he stood. Big, with arms like jack hammers and a chest as broad as a bulldogs. His short sleeved white shirt fit as if it were off the rack from Sears and Roebuck and he had to have gotten that tie from the Salvation Army charity shop but there was something so very beautiful about him. His eyes were big and soulful, tinged with pain passed and his mouth curved in the way a lions does. The very though of how soft his lips would be sent a warm feeling down her spine and back up into her belly.
"Snap out of it." He rumbled. "We've got to get to The Point. I don't like being away too long."
"The Point?"
His shoulders dropped and he gave her a withering look. "You are Bridgid Morgan, right?"
"I am and who are you?"
He took the shoulder bag from her but hesitated when he saw the pup. As far as he was concerned she could take care of that animal. "I'm Bud White. I was sent here to pick you up."
She could have counted the seconds before her cell signaled another text message. This was getting pretty predictable. Pulling it out of her pocket she flipped it open to read.
'Get your ass in the car, Bridgid. Tina.'
She closed it and slipped it back into her pocket. "You, Bud White are the last part of my journey, right?"
He nodded as he opened the door to his 49 Chrysler. "So you're a cop, huh, Bridgid Morgan?"
"Yeah, Yeah I am, was, whatever." She waved a hand. "Cool car, Bud White. So what's a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?"
He grinned, took her elbow and helped her into the vehicle. "Don't let that dog drool on my seats, okay?"
Its a good thing she didn't share her thoughts with him. She was wondering how he'd feel if it were her drooling on his upholstery. Well, the good ones were always taken so she figured there wasn't much of a chance anyway and she sure as shit was not in the mood to pursue any men at the moment.
"I'll keep a tight leash on him." Cuddling the pup close as Bud wound his way around the car to the drivers side she kissed the pooch between the ears. "Don't worry. Ill take good care of you. I promise."
Bud heard what she said. He figured she wasn't just talking to the dog but time would tell.
TBC